With the Republicans fast becoming a party of Dixie christian militancy, seen most recently at that Take Back America confab, one has to wonder if Darwin and evolution won't appear as a factor in next year's elections. The reasons are:

Many are wary of scientific conclusions, global warming being the issue most focused on. A hostile stance towards science typically includes a rejection of evolution.

Lots of Republican leaders are one degree of separation from a prominent evolution denier. (Or zero degrees in the case of Huckabee.)

Evolution contradicts a literal reading of the bible.

Given that this country is polarized and likely to stay that way (or get worse), defining beliefs eventually rise to the surface as a proxy for each side. Will evolution be one of them? Perhaps so.